Grenade, ammo found at Stoughton fire site

Thursday

Feb 28, 2008 at 12:01 AMFeb 28, 2008 at 11:33 PM

Stoughton Firefighters investigating the cause of an early morning fire Tuesday in an unoccupied house on School Street discovered ammunition and a grenade in the house directly behind it—though it now appears a previous homeowner left the ammunition, police say.

Jeff Mucciarone

Stoughton Firefighters investigating the cause of an early morning fire Tuesday in an unoccupied house on School Street discovered ammunition and a grenade in the house directly behind it—though it now appears a previous homeowner left the ammunition, police say.

Firefighters responded to 911 calls at 3:21 a.m. and arrived at 224 School Street to find a substantial fire consuming the first and second floors of the home, which Deputy Fire Chief Mark Dolloff said was built sometime near 1900.

As of Wednesday, the fire department had not determined the cause of the fire, Dolloff said. The state Fire Marshal’s Office and Stoughton’s fire investigator are investigating the fire.

There were no injuries in the blaze. The house sustained extensive damage and is considered uninhabitable, Dolloff said.

No one was living in the home as it was undergoing renovations at the time. The homeowner owns multiple residences and is currently living in New Bedford, Dolloff said. The fire department did not release the individual’s name.

Considering the timing of the fire and the fact that no one was living at the home, Dolloff said the fire was suspicious, although he cautioned that it was a broad classification.

Later Tuesday morning, Stoughton Capt. James Bertram was conducting “post-incident analysis,” when he heard running water coming from the direction of a second house, which was located on the same property, directly behind the first home. Bertram discovered a broken water feed that was free flowing into the second home, but it was unclear how the feed broke, Dolloff said.

The New Bedford homeowner owns both houses, Dolloff said.

As Bertram went into the basement to shut off the water, he found the ammunition and a hand grenade, Dolloff said.

The State Police bomb squad and the Stoughton Police Department responded. After x-raying the grenade, officials determined it was not live. Officials were able to secure the other ammunition in the basement, Dolloff said.

Stoughton Police Executive Officer Thomas Murphy said it is likely a previous homeowner left the grenade and ammunition. He said the home had changed owners a few times.

“We don’t have any suspects in any ammunitions violations,” Murphy said, adding the grenade was “hollowed out” and appeared to be a souvenir of some kind. The bullets were probably .45 caliber, Murphy said.

When firefighters arrived, they determined no one was inside the home and decided to fight the blaze from outside, instead of risking injury by going in. Since it was under construction, personnel didn’t know how stable the home was, Dolloff said.